Charities Act , 1961

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title and commencement.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Charities Act, 1961.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of July, 1961.

2 Interpretation.

2.—In this Act—

“the Board” means the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland;

“charitable gift” means a gift for charitable purposes;

“fund” includes any interest, present or future, in any stock, shares, annuities or other securities or choses in action, and also includes money;

“gift” means a donation, devise or bequest;

“the Secretary” means the Secretary of the Board;

references to the trustee of a charity shall be construed as including references to a person acting in the administration or management of a charity;

“will” includes codicil.

3 Expenses.

3.—All expenses incurred by the Board in the administration of this Act and not otherwise provided for shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

4 Repeals.

4.—(1) The enactments mentioned in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column.

(2) Every scheme or order made, notice, decision, opinion or advice given or thing done by the Board under a repealed enactment shall remain valid notwithstanding such repeal as if made, given or done under this Act.

(3) Subsection (2) is without prejudice to section 21 of the Interpretation Act, 1937.

PART II. The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland and their Jurisdiction.

Chapter I. The Board.

5 Continuance of Board.

5.—The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland (in this Act referred to as the Board) shall continue in being, notwithstanding the repeals effected by this Act, as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may in their corporate name sue and be sued.

6 Power to hold land.

6.—The Board shall in their corporate name have and be deemed always to have had power to acquire, hold and dispose of land.

7 Constitution.

7.—The Board shall consist of not more than eleven members.

8 Membership.

8.—(1) The Government shall appoint persons to be members of the Board from time to time as occasion requires.

(2) Each member of the Board shall hold office until his death, resignation or removal from office.

(3) The Government may remove from office any member of the Board.

(4) The appointment or removal of a member of the Board shall be published in Iris Oifigiúil.

(5) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, and thereafter as occasion requires, the Board shall appoint a member of the Board to be the Chairman of the Board and the Chairman shall hold office for such period as the Board determine when appointing him.

(6) The persons who are members of the Board immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in office as if appointed under this section.

9 Procedure.

9.—(1) At a meeting of the Board, if the Chairman of the Board is absent, the senior member in order of appointment or such other member as the Board may select shall be chairman.

(2) A member who continues in office on the commencement of this Act shall take rank according to the date of his original appointment.

(3) Every question at a meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting and, in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

(4) At a meeting of the Board three members shall form a quorum, if due notice of that meeting was given to all the members.

10 Officers and servants.

10.—(1) The Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall from time to time as occasion requires appoint a secretary of the Board and may, with the like consent, appoint such other officers and such servants as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The Secretary and the other officers and servants of the Board shall hold office on such terms and receive such remuneration as the Minister for Finance determines.

(3) The Secretary and the other officers and servants of the Board holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in office as if appointed under this section.

11 Seal.

11.—(1) The seal of the Board shall be affixed only by order of the Board and its affixation shall be attested by the signatures of two members of the Board or of a member of the Board and the Secretary.

(2) The seal of the Board shall be judicially noticed and every document purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Board and to be attested in accordance with this section shall, unless the contrary is shown, be received in evidence without further proof.

12 Minutes of proceedings.

12.—(1) The Secretary or some other officer of the Board shall make minutes of the proceedings of the Board at each meeting and shall keep a book (in this section referred to as the Minute Book) in which he shall enter—

(a) a fair copy of those minutes, and

(b) the names of the members present at that meeting.

(2) The minutes of the proceedings at a meeting of the Board, as entered in the Minute Book, shall be read at the next meeting of the Board and, if approved as correct, shall be signed by the chairman of the meeting at which they are so read.

13 Membership of Board not to disqualify Judge from hearing charity cases.

13.—A Judge of any Court shall not be prevented or disabled by reason solely of his being a member of the Board from hearing and determining any case relating to a charity or any case arising under this Act, but may hear and determine it as if he were not a member of the Board.

14 Audit of Accounts.

14.—(1) In this section—

“the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government;

“the auditor” means, in relation to an audit under this section, the auditor appointed by the Minister to hold that audit;

“the accounts” means the accounts of the Board.

(2) The accounts shall be made up to the 31st day of December in each year in such form as the Minister may from time to time approve.

(3) The accounts shall once in each year be audited by such auditor of the Minister as the Minister may from time to time appoint.

(4) The following provisions shall apply in relation to an audit under this section—

(a) for the purposes of the audit, the Board shall furnish to the Minister, before the end of the month of June in each year, an abstract of the accounts of the Board in such form as shall be approved by the Minister from time to time;

(b) the auditor shall give to the Secretary six days' notice prior to the holding of the audit at the office of the Board;

(c) the auditor may, by giving notice in that behalf in writing to any person, require that person to attend at the office of the Board at such time as is specified in the notice to give evidence on oath in relation to any matter in question at the audit and to produce any books, deeds, accounts, vouchers or other documents in his possession, custody or control which relate to any such matter, and—

(i) any person to whom a notice has been given under this paragraph who refuses or wilfully neglects to attend in accordance with the notice or who wilfully alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document to which the notice relates, or who, having so attended, refuses to give evidence or refuses or wilfully fails to produce any document to which the notice relates shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and

(ii) any person who in giving such evidence on oath wilfully makes a statement which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment;

(d) on the completion of the audit, the auditor shall certify the said abstract;

(e) the auditor shall, within fourteen days after certifying the said abstract, send it to the Minister together with a report upon the accounts;

(f) the Minister shall transmit a copy of the auditor's report and the said abstract to the Secretary and shall transmit a copy of the said report to the Minister for Justice.

15 Report.

15.—(1) The Board shall, once at least in every year and also whenever the Government so require, report to the Government their proceedings under this Act.

(2) A copy of each report made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

16 Restriction on payment by Board of solicitor's costs.

16.—The Board shall not pay any sum to a solicitor employed by them as and for costs or expenses to be defrayed out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas unless the amount thereof has been approved by the Minister for Finance, who shall before approving thereof have particulars of the costs and expenses laid before him.

17 Indemnity of Board and persons acting under their direction.

17.—No matter or thing done by the Board or by any person acting under their direction shall, if done bona fide in the execution of this Act, render any member of the Board or person acting under their direction personally liable to any proceedings.

18 Service of notices on Board.

18.—A notice may be served on the Board—

(a) by leaving a copy thereof with the Secretary at the office of the Board, or

(b) by sending a copy thereof by registered post in an envelope addressed to the Board at that office.

19 Costs of Board to be borne by charity.

19.—Any costs or expenses incurred by the Board in the management or administration or for the preservation or recovery of any property vested in the Board or otherwise in the execution of this Act may be borne by and deducted by the Board from the estate and funds of the charity in respect of which those costs and expenses were incurred.

Chapter II. Jurisdiction and powers of the Board.

20 Power to grant exemption from obligation to publish advertisements of charitable devises and bequests.

20.—The Board may, in their discretion, having regard to the amount of any charitable devise or bequest or other special circumstances, exempt any person from the obligation imposed on him by section 52 either wholly or to such extent and upon such terms as they think fit.

21 Power to advise charity trustees as to administration of trusts.

21.—(1) Where the trustees of a charity apply to the Board for their opinion or advice respecting the charity or the administration thereof or the property thereof or the application of the property or any question or dispute relating thereto or where the executors of a will containing a charitable devise or bequest apply to the Board for their opinion or advice respecting the devise or bequest or the administration thereof or the application thereof or any question or dispute relating thereto, the Board shall consider the application and may, if they think fit, give such opinion or advice as they think expedient.

(2) The opinion or advice of the Board shall be given under the seal of the Board.

(3) Where the Board give their opinion or advice in relation to any matter, a trustee, executor or any other person who during any period (not being a period after the making of an order in relation to the matter by a Court of competent jurisdiction) acts on or in accordance with the opinion or advice shall, in respect of his so acting during that period, be deemed, so far as respects his own responsibility, to have acted in accordance with his trust.

(4) No order made subsequently by a Court shall have any such retrospective effect as to interfere with or impair the indemnity given by this section to a trustee, executor or other person who has acted on or in accordance with such opinion or advice.

(5) This section shall not indemnify a trustee or other person for any act done in accordance with an opinion or advice of the Board, if he has been guilty of fraud, wilful concealment or misrepresentation in obtaining the opinion or advice.

22 Compromise of claims by or against a charity.

22.—(1) If it appears to the trustees of a charity that any claim against a person in relation to the charity may, with advantage to the charity, or should, in the special circumstances of the case, be compromised, the trustees or that person, with the consent of the trustees, may submit to the Board a statement and proposal for a compromise.

(2) If it appears to the trustees of a charity that any claim by any person against the charity or them may, with advantage to the charity, or should, in the special circumstances of the case, be compromised, the trustees or that person, with the consent of the trustees, may submit to the Board a statement and proposal for a compromise.

(3) Where the Board, after such inquiry as they think necessary, are of opinion that the proposal, with or without modification, is fit and proper and for the benefit of the charity, the Board may make such order in relation to the compromise as they think fit.

(4) If it appears to the Board that any claim by or against them in respect of any property of which they are trustees may, with advantage to the charity, or should, in the special circumstances of the case, be compromised, the Board may compromise the claim.

(5) Where a claim is authorised to be or is compromised under this section, then, upon due performance of the terms and conditions of the compromise, no action shall lie in respect of the claim.

23 Power to sue for recovery of charitable gifts improperly withheld, concealed, or misapplied.

23.—(1) The Board may, with the previous consent of the Attorney General, sue for the recovery of any charitable gift intended to be applied in the State which is improperly withheld, concealed or misapplied.

(2) The Board shall apply every charitable gift recovered by them under this section to charitable purposes according to the intention of the donor.

(3) The Board may deduct from any charitable gift recovered by them under this section all costs, charges and expenses incurred by them in such recovery.

24 Recovery of charitable gifts.

24.—Whenever any sum is payable to or for any charitable purposes, the Board or the trustees of the charity, with the consent of the Board, may sue for and recover it, from the person for the time being liable therefor or whose duty it is to pay it, as a simple contract debt in any Court of competent jurisdiction without obtaining the consent of the Attorney General.

25 Power of Board to authorise or direct institution of legal proceedings in a charity matter.

25.—If it appears to the Board desirable that legal proceedings should be instituted with respect to any charity by any person, other than the Attorney General, the Board may authorise or direct those legal proceedings to be instituted and give such directions in relation thereto as they think proper, and thereupon such legal proceedings may be instituted.

26 Power of Board to certify certain charity cases to the Attorney General.

26.—(1) If in any case it appears to the Board desirable that legal proceedings with respect to any charity should be instituted by the Attorney General, the Board may certify the case, in writing under the hand of the Secretary, to the Attorney General, with such statements and particulars as may in their opinion be required for the explanation of the case.

(2) Where a case is so certified to the Attorney General, he may, if he thinks fit, institute such legal proceedings as he considers proper in the circumstances of the case.

27 Power of Board to apply for conduct of administration suits and suits for carrying out trusts of wills in case of delay.

27.—Where—

(a) a person has by will devised or bequeathed any property for charitable purposes, and

(b) a suit for the administration of the assets or carrying out the trusts of the will has been instituted by the personal representative of that person,

the Board (though not parties to the suit) may, on the ground of delay, apply to the Court in which the suit is pending to have the conduct of the suit transferred to the Board, and thereupon the Court, if of opinion that there has been undue or improper delay in proceeding with the suit, may—

(a) give the conduct of the suit to the Board, or

(b) impose on the party having conduct of the suit such terms as it deems necessary for bringing the suit to a speedy termination,

and may make such orders on the application as the Court thinks fit.

28 Power of Board to apply for transfer of unapplied charity fund in Court.

28.—Where any fund, standing to a separate credit in any matter within the jurisdiction of a Court, for the benefit of a charity or impressed with a charitable trust remains unapplied, the Board may apply to that Court for the transfer to them of the fund, to be held by them upon the charitable trust affecting the fund, and thereupon the Court may make such order as to the transfer of the fund to the Board or otherwise (including the payment of costs out of the fund) as the Court thinks fit.

29 Power of Board to frame schemes applying property cy-prs.

29.—(1) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the value of land shall be taken to be fifty times the rateable valuation thereof,

(b) the value of any periodical payment to which land is subject shall be taken to be fifteen times the annual amount thereof, and

(c) the value of any other periodical payment shall be taken to be twenty times the annual amount thereof.

(2) Whenever—

(a) any of the circumstances specified in subsection (1) of section 47 exist in relation to any charitable gift, and

(b) the charitable gift does not exceed five thousand pounds in value,

the Board, if they think fit, may by order frame a scheme for the application cy-prs of the property comprised in the charitable gift,

(3) Where—

(a) a charitable gift of any value has been made for the benefit of poor debtors formerly imprisoned in Ireland, and

(b) any of the circumstances specified in subsection (1) of section 47 exist in relation to the charitable gift,

the Board, if they think fit, may by order frame a scheme for the application cy-prs of the property comprised in the charitable gift.

(4) Where—